Maurice Rioli Jr. produced the breakout performance of his fledgling AFL career in Richmond’s thrilling five-point win against Sydney at the MCG yesterday.
The 21-year-old, playing his 30th game of senior football with the Tigers, applied trademark elite defensive pressure to opponents throughout the contes and also won his fair share of the ball.
He had an AFL career-high 17 disposals, to go with an equal team-high and career-high six tackles, four intercepts, five score involvements and 182 metres gained.
Although Rioli made a couple of mistakes with his disposal during the match, Richmond coach Ade Yze highlighted his importance within the Tigers’ line-up, and how much improvement he still has in him.
“We know the talent that he’s got . . . He works really hard, but he can let himself down with the ball at times. That’s just the nature of the way that he plays. It’s high energy, high intensity, high pressure. We’ve just got to get him to take a breath when he gets the ball,” Yze said in his post-game press conference.
“He’ll still have those moments, but what we need is what he brings off the ball.
“He’s so diligent in our team defence.
“We’re forever highlighting his role within our team defence, let along what’s happening around with his pressure.
“So, we love what he can bring, and we’ve just got to coach him through the opportunities with the ball to get some reward for effort, because he works hard every game.
“We really missed him last week (against Port Adelaide) when he went out (injured) in the warm-up.
“It was good for him to show what he can do, and we’ll just keep working with him.”
